Hey all,
I'm wondering if my truck is about to die.
I've had a slight ticking at idle since I've had the truck, sounds almost
like lifter noise, but it's there all the time, not just at startup in the
morning.
I would think timing chain, if a) it hadn't been replaced when I bought the
truck, and b) it had been getting worse. The noise has always been there,
and has not changed a whit, whether in noise or severity. Now, a friend,
(who also happens to manage an auto parts store - one of the precious few
parts guys I trust) says it may be my TC, but not to worry too much about it
unless the noise gets worse, but that changing the ATF is a very good idea,
if I find chunks of metal, I can start worrying. Now, I've been wanting to
change the tranny fluid since I got the truck, but my dad thinks it'd be too
messy to do in the yard, and his mechanic wants to rape me ($150!) to do it.
Now, here's the thing: I live partway up a mountain, lots of hills and
curves, and my truck likes to go into OD when I let off the gas to make it
around some of these corners, or as I come to the crest of one of these
hills, but when I start up a hill, it'll downshift twice, OD-3rd, then
3rd-2nd, and tach about 3, 3.3k at 35-40mph. Now, I've started locking out
overdrive once I come onto these roads, which helped a lot, but now, if I
let the truck slow to around 30mph, the tranny likes to shift into 1st! 5.5k
RPM!
I'm on the verge of letting the mechanic pillage and plunder me, just for
peace of mind - or to know the bad news. There's two things that stop me:
1) I need my truck for work, and the guy always has our vehicles for 2-3x
the time he estimates, (if he says 2 days, it's a week, four days, it's two
weeks, a week, it won't be in the yard for three weeks), and Dad's Stratus
is broken down, so he's using the Voyager, meaning that if my truck goes
into the shop, I have zero transportation, and
2) the guy tends to say more work is necessary than really is. Dad's
Stratus blew a rear main seal, (see reason #1), and the guy is going to
charge him $650 to change it because, and I quote, "the entire clutch
assembly also needs replacement because it is directly behind the rear main
seal, and in the path of oil spray, so it's _probably_ been oil
contaminated"
Now, in my experience, a clutch that's been oil-contaminated does one of two
things. It either slips horribly or is really grabby. Dad's clutch is
neither. I had to move the car last week to mow the lawn, and the clutch
behaves like the car is new. The friction point is in the same spot, the
car pulls the same from there out..
I'm going off on a tangent, but I'd like some ideas. I really can't afford
to be truckless, or to have to pay big bucks to get it fixed at the moment.
Thanks.
-- Later, Jon jonsdak@midmaine.com http://jonsdakota.tripod.com 1996 Dodge Dakota Sport 4X4, 3.9L V6, 42RE, 3.92:1 8.75 axle, "BackRack" Headache Rack, Dodge Motorsports decals, steering wheel cover, and front license plate, diamond-plate bedrail covers, Lund VentVisors, Lund BugShield, Jensen MP-3310 CD/MP3 Receiver
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